Why Are City Playing In The Arse-End Of Nowhere On The 10th

[Arjan Van Schotte]

It's a lot nicer than bradford?

[AG7]

It's in lieu of the Community Shield we should've been playing that weekend ...

Yes, I'm still pissed about pissing in that game ... still not out of my system yet.

[john@staustell]

I've noticed Finnish was sadly omitted from the list of languages the OS was recently available in, so I'm sure this is a prelude to a Finnish version.

[BobbyJ1956]

Because they didn't turn up against Wigan in the Cup Final. And Helsinki is a lot nicer than Rhyl.

[ross.mcfc]

I am currently in the middle of nowhere in that part of the world and broke the habit of a life time by watching a friendly between Real Madrid and PSG held in Gothenburg. It really got me thinking about why these friendlies are taking place and if I had a computer inf ont of me at time would have written an essay on it. Glad to see someone Is questioning the motives of these friendlies.

We are now used to seeing teams go to Asia and North America. There is a huge market and the interest in football grows year by year so it is no surprise that we are seeing teams spend their pre season there. But why are Man United and Liverpool flying to Australia to play one match? Why are Real and PSG playing in Sweden and why are we playing Arsenal in Helsinki? There are a number of pre season friendlies so far that I could have thrown in as well. Australia and Scandinavia are not growth markets. They can fill stadiums and of course there is interest but they are not countries that can be milked for commercial reasons. Most People who are already interested in football in those areas already have a team. Mainly the sides who were big in the 70's 80's when English football was first shown on tv there.

There are two reasons why I believe this occurs.

1) Teams are now preparing for the post tv deal era. An era when you go online pick a side and pay a subscription charge to watch all their games.

2) We are being softened up for the 39th game. An idea that I am actually in favour of and backed it on this very board and was overwhelmingly disagreed with. It should have been embraced then and the alternative is much worse. I forsee an era of a European Super league played around the world with very few home games in their natural country. City vrs Barca in New York one week, City verses Munich in Qatar the next.

Either way, the fans who attend the games in England are going to lose out be it with a lack of games on your season tickets or your games being arranged to sort the time zone of the area of the world where you have the biggest subscription market.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I am currently in the middle of nowhere in that part of the world and broke the habit of a life time by watching a friendly between Real Madrid and PSG held in Gothenburg. It really got me thinking about why these friendlies are taking place and if I had a computer inf ont of me at time would have written an essay on it. Glad to see someone Is questioning the motives of these friendlies.

We are now used to seeing teams go to Asia and North America. There is a huge market and the interest in football grows year by year so it is no surprise that we are seeing teams spend their pre season there. But why are Man United and Liverpool flying to Australia to play one match? Why are Real and PSG playing in Sweden and why are we playing Arsenal in Helsinki? There are a number of pre season friendlies so far that I could have thrown in as well. Australia and Scandinavia are not growth markets. They can fill stadiums and of course there is interest but they are not countries that can be milked for commercial reasons. Most People who are already interested in football in those areas already have a team. Mainly the sides who were big in the 70's 80's when English football was first shown on tv there.

There are two reasons why I believe this occurs.

1) Teams are now preparing for the post tv deal era. An era when you go online pick a side and pay a subscription charge to watch all their games.

2) We are being softened up for the 39th game. An idea that I am actually in favour of and backed it on this very board and was overwhelmingly disagreed with. It should have been embraced then and the alternative is much worse. I forsee an era of a European Super league played around the world with very few home games in their natural country. City vrs Barca in New York one week, City verses Munich in Qatar the next.

Either way, the fans who attend the games in England are going to lose out be it with a lack of games on your season tickets or your games being arranged to sort the time zone of the area of the world where you have the biggest subscription market.

Great and insightfull posts.
As you rightly pointed out 1st division and FA cup have been on telly here since late-60's. There's very little room for growth here because of that and simply because Nordic countries simply aren't that big of a market. There's 9.5 million people in Sweden, 5.5 million in Finland and 5 million in Norway. There's 30 million people in Malesia, 68 million in Thailand and of course over billion in China. These are incidentally the countries where Asian trophy tournament has been held. And they are widely untapped markets so far.

Scandinavians probably spend lot more money on the clubs they support but they have, for the most part, chosen the clubs they support and the clubs are passed down in families. Furthermore, there's lot more interest in local clubs than there was when I was kid. So technically Premier League clubs are fighting with local Clubs rather than with each other.

However, you got it spot on with tv deals. These are prime markets to actually BUY the individual tv subscribtions of Clubs. There's simply not enough money in most parts of Asia to fork out tens of pounds in a month for Internet content at this stage. So the aim in Asia and Scandinavia is completely different. In Asia they are trying to build Fan base in mid- to long term whereas in Scandinavia they are aiming for short- to mid term cash flow.

[Ted Hughes]

I am currently in the middle of nowhere in that part of the world and broke the habit of a life time by watching a friendly between Real Madrid and PSG held in Gothenburg. It really got me thinking about why these friendlies are taking place and if I had a computer inf ont of me at time would have written an essay on it. Glad to see someone Is questioning the motives of these friendlies.

We are now used to seeing teams go to Asia and North America. There is a huge market and the interest in football grows year by year so it is no surprise that we are seeing teams spend their pre season there. But why are Man United and Liverpool flying to Australia to play one match? Why are Real and PSG playing in Sweden and why are we playing Arsenal in Helsinki? There are a number of pre season friendlies so far that I could have thrown in as well. Australia and Scandinavia are not growth markets. They can fill stadiums and of course there is interest but they are not countries that can be milked for commercial reasons. Most People who are already interested in football in those areas already have a team. Mainly the sides who were big in the 70's 80's when English football was first shown on tv there.

There are two reasons why I believe this occurs.

1) Teams are now preparing for the post tv deal era. An era when you go online pick a side and pay a subscription charge to watch all their games.

2) We are being softened up for the 39th game. An idea that I am actually in favour of and backed it on this very board and was overwhelmingly disagreed with. It should have been embraced then and the alternative is much worse. I forsee an era of a European Super league played around the world with very few home games in their natural country. City vrs Barca in New York one week, City verses Munich in Qatar the next.

Either way, the fans who attend the games in England are going to lose out be it with a lack of games on your season tickets or your games being arranged to sort the time zone of the area of the world where you have the biggest subscription market.

Great and insightfull posts.
As you rightly pointed out 1st division and FA cup have been on telly here since late-60's. There's very little room for growth here because of that and simply because Nordic countries simply aren't that big of a market. There's 9.5 million people in Sweden, 5.5 million in Finland and 5 million in Norway. There's 30 million people in Malesia, 68 million in Thailand and of course over billion in China. These are incidentally the countries where Asian trophy tournament has been held. And they are widely untapped markets so far.

Scandinavians probably spend lot more money on the clubs they support but they have, for the most part, chosen the clubs they support and the clubs are passed down in families. Furthermore, there's lot more interest in local clubs than there was when I was kid. So technically Premier League clubs are fighting with local Clubs rather than with each other.

However, you got it spot on with tv deals. These are prime markets to actually BUY the individual tv subscribtions of Clubs. There's simply not enough money in most parts of Asia to fork out tens of pounds in a month for Internet content at this stage. So the aim in Asia and Scandinavia is completely different. In Asia they are trying to build Fan base in mid- to long term whereas in Scandinavia they are aiming for short- to mid term cash flow.

Are you seeing lots of young Liverpool fans there though ? I'm not seeing them here. In fact I haven't seen one this year & it's about 90% Liverpool amongst the older generation round here. I've seen kids in rag shirts, plus Barca, Bayern & mixture of various teams.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I am currently in the middle of nowhere in that part of the world and broke the habit of a life time by watching a friendly between Real Madrid and PSG held in Gothenburg. It really got me thinking about why these friendlies are taking place and if I had a computer inf ont of me at time would have written an essay on it. Glad to see someone Is questioning the motives of these friendlies.

We are now used to seeing teams go to Asia and North America. There is a huge market and the interest in football grows year by year so it is no surprise that we are seeing teams spend their pre season there. But why are Man United and Liverpool flying to Australia to play one match? Why are Real and PSG playing in Sweden and why are we playing Arsenal in Helsinki? There are a number of pre season friendlies so far that I could have thrown in as well. Australia and Scandinavia are not growth markets. They can fill stadiums and of course there is interest but they are not countries that can be milked for commercial reasons. Most People who are already interested in football in those areas already have a team. Mainly the sides who were big in the 70's 80's when English football was first shown on tv there.

There are two reasons why I believe this occurs.

1) Teams are now preparing for the post tv deal era. An era when you go online pick a side and pay a subscription charge to watch all their games.

2) We are being softened up for the 39th game. An idea that I am actually in favour of and backed it on this very board and was overwhelmingly disagreed with. It should have been embraced then and the alternative is much worse. I forsee an era of a European Super league played around the world with very few home games in their natural country. City vrs Barca in New York one week, City verses Munich in Qatar the next.

Either way, the fans who attend the games in England are going to lose out be it with a lack of games on your season tickets or your games being arranged to sort the time zone of the area of the world where you have the biggest subscription market.

Great and insightfull posts.
As you rightly pointed out 1st division and FA cup have been on telly here since late-60's. There's very little room for growth here because of that and simply because Nordic countries simply aren't that big of a market. There's 9.5 million people in Sweden, 5.5 million in Finland and 5 million in Norway. There's 30 million people in Malesia, 68 million in Thailand and of course over billion in China. These are incidentally the countries where Asian trophy tournament has been held. And they are widely untapped markets so far.

Scandinavians probably spend lot more money on the clubs they support but they have, for the most part, chosen the clubs they support and the clubs are passed down in families. Furthermore, there's lot more interest in local clubs than there was when I was kid. So technically Premier League clubs are fighting with local Clubs rather than with each other.

However, you got it spot on with tv deals. These are prime markets to actually BUY the individual tv subscribtions of Clubs. There's simply not enough money in most parts of Asia to fork out tens of pounds in a month for Internet content at this stage. So the aim in Asia and Scandinavia is completely different. In Asia they are trying to build Fan base in mid- to long term whereas in Scandinavia they are aiming for short- to mid term cash flow.

Are you seeing lots of young Liverpool fans there though ? I'm not seeing them here. In fact I haven't seen one this year & it's about 90% Liverpool amongst the older generation round here. I've seen kids in rag shirts, plus Barca, Bayern & mixture of various teams.

Yeah mate. We live right next to football park with lot of pitches (local second division club plays their home games as well and since we live in an island within Helsinki City limits there's pretty strong local identity and they are well supported in our island) and I'm having kick about with my lad there on almost daily basis so I got pretty good idea. I still see tons of Liverpool shirts. What's interesting though is that I see less and less rags shirts although there are still plenty. I think Barca shirts have taken over from rags segment. I' ve always assumed that these kids with rags and Barca shirts don't come from strong footballing homes. There has been couple of kids with City shirts as well.

What I find interesting is the amount of Arsenal shirts among African immigrants, both adults and youngsters. I reckon Arsenal has that continent pretty much covered.

Generally I think the whole "being loyal to the cause" thing has strong appeal to Finns (and probably Scandinavians in general). We are just that sort of people for better or for worse.